Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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The present invention relates to a method of
automatically ackivating/deactivating an electrical
appliance in the presence of a fire.
ACi~OU~D OF TH~ VENTION
There are many reasons why it may be advantageous to
either activate or deactivate an electrical appliance in
the presence of fire.
Many fires originate in electrical appliances. These
fires are exacerbated when the appliance continues to
operate after ignition of a fire. For example, it would be
advantageous to deactivate an electric stove if a fire
originated from ~hat appliance.
Electrical appliances are such an integral part of our
society that there is one in virtually every room of modern
households. People are awakened every day by elec-tric
radio/alarm clocks. It would be advantageous if an
appliance such as a radio/alarm clock could be activated in
the presence of fire as a warning to the occupants of the
residence.
SUMMAR~ OF TN~ INVENTION
What is required is a method of automatically
activating/deactivating an electrical appliance in the
presence of a fire.
According to the present invention there is provided
a method of automatically activating/deactivating an
electrical appliance having a primary manual on/of~ switch
in the presence of a fire. This method is comprised of the
step of placing a secondary switch between the operating
components of an electrical appliance and a power source.
The secondary switch has an open position and a closed
position. In the closed position electrical current flows
from the power source to the operating components of the
electrical appliance. In the open posikion the flow of
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electrical current between the power source and the
operating components of the electrical appliance is
disrupted. The secondary switch has fire sensing switch
actuator means such that the position of -the secondary
switch is altered upon the presence of a fire being sensed.
With the invention as described an electrical
appliance which would exacerbate a fire if it continued to
operate can be automatically deactivated as soon as fire is
detected. Depending upon the type of fire which is within
contemplation, khere can be incorporated into the fire
sensing switch actuator a heat sensor, a smoke detector or
both. In some ins-tances, there may be advantages to have
the electrical appliance activated, as opposed to
deactivated, as soon as fire is detected. For examplet a
radio could be turned on at loud volume when the presence
of fire was detected to permit the occupants of a residence
time to escape. Another example, would be an electrical
appliance such as a vibrating pillow which could be
activated to vibrate at high frequency to wa~e a deaf
person who would not be cognizant of audio alarms.
Although beneficial results may be obtained by
building into new electrical appliances an embodiment of
the invention as described above, it is not practical to
retrofit all existing electrical app]iances with such a
secondary switch, although it is desirable to, in some
fashion, adapt existing devices in accordance with the
teachings of the present method. Accordingly, even more
beneficial results may be obtained by having the secondary
switch in the form of a plug adaptor having a male
connection adapted to plug into a household power outlet
and a female connection adapted to received a plug from an
electrical appliance.
The plug adaptor constructed in accordance with the
teachings of the present invention can be used with any
form of appliance. Although beneficial results may be
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obtained from using this form of plug adaptor, an
electrical appliance can only be activated or deactivated
through the plug adaptor if the primary manual on/off
switch of the electrical appliance is left in the "on"
position. Even more beneficial results may be obtained by
having a tertiary manual switch whereby the default setting
of th~ secondary switch is set in either an open or closed
position depending upon whether-the electrical appliance is
to be turned on or off in the presence of a fire.
Although beneficial results may be obtained through
the use of the invention as described, the electrical
outlets into which the plug adaptor must be inserted are
not always positioned to optimize fire detection. For this
reason even more beneficial results may be obtained by
having a fire sensing switch actuator which has a sensor
attached by way of an umbilical cord such that the sensor
may be selectively positioned to optimize detection of a
fire.
BRIEF D~SCRIPTION 0~ TH~ DRAWINGS
These and other features of the invention will become
more apparent from the following description in which
reference is made to the appended drawings, wherein:
FIGURE 1 is a schematic diagram of an electrical
appliance wired in parallel in accordance with the
teachings of the present invention.
~IGU~E 2 is a schematic diagram of an electrical
appliance wired in series in accordance with the teachings
of the present invention.
FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of a plug adaptor
apparatus constructed in accordance with the teachings of
the present method.
DETAILED DE~CRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED E~qBODIMElaT
The preferred method of automatically
activating/deactivating an electrical appliance in the
presence of a fire will now be described with reference to
FIGURES 1 through 30
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Every electrical appliance 12 has a primary manual
on/off switch 14, which controls the flow of electricity to
electrical appliance 12 from a power source 16. The method
consists of the step of placin~ a secondary switch 18
between electrical appliance 12 and power source 16.
Secondary switch 18 has an open position and a closed
position. In the closed position electrical current flows
from power source 16 to electrical appliance 12. In the
open position the flow of electrical current between power
source 14 and electrical appliance 12 is disrupted.
~econdary switch 18 has fire sensing switch actuator means
in the form of a heat sensor 20 and a smoke sensor 22.
Secondary switch 18 can have a default position setting as
either normally open or normally closed. Upon receiving a
signal from heat sensor 20 or smoke sensor 22, that heat or
smoke has been detected~ secondary switch 18 is moved from
its default setting to either open or close the s~itch.
It is intended that secondary switch 18 be
incorporated into new electrical appliances 12. When
secondary switch 18 is incorporatecl as part of an appliance
the manner in which it is wired will depend upon whether it
is intended to turn electrical appliance 12 on or off. If
the intention is to turn electrical appliance 12 on, it is
preferred that secondary switch 18 be connected in parallel
with primary switch 1~ as illustrated in FIGURE 1. With
this configuration the default setting o~ secondary switch
18 is the open position. It is expected that primary
switch 14 will be in the off position a fire occurs. When
the fire occurs its presence is detected by sensors 20 and
22 and secondary switch moves from its open default setting
to a closed position where power from power source 16 is
supplied to electrical appliance 12. If the intention is
to turn electrical appliance 12 off, it is preferred that
secondary switch 18 be connected in series with primary
switch 14 as illustrated in FIGV~E 2. W'th this
configuration the default setti~g of secondary switch 18 is
the closed positioned. When fire occurs its presence is
detected by sensors 20 and 22 and secondary switch moves
20~2~1
from its closed default setting to an op~n position where
power from power source 16 to electrical appliance 12 is
disrupted.
Re~erring to FIGURE 3, there is illustrated a plug
adaptor 24, which can be used to adapt existing appliances
in accordance with the teachings of the present method.
Plug adaptor 24 has a male connection 26 adapted to plug
into a household power outlet (not shown) which serves as
a power source and a female connection 28 adapted to
received a plug (not shown) from an electrical appliance
(not shown). Plug adaptor 24 has a outer housing 30
having a plurality of vent holes 32 to permit heat or smoke
laden air access to heat sensor 20 and smoke sensor 22.
Plug adaptor 24 has a tertiary manual switch 34 which is
used to determine the default setting of plug adaptor 24.
In addition, plug adaptor 24 has a satellite housing 36 in
which a heat sensor 20 and smoke sensor 22 are housed.
Sa-tellite housing 36 is attached by way of an umbilical
cord 38 to plug adaptor 24 and has a clip 40 to enable
satellite housing 36 to be attached to curtains or the
like.
The use and operation of plug adaptor 24 will now be
described. Plug adaptor 24 as illustrated in FIGURE 3, is
used to interpose secondary switch 18 between power source
20 (a household power outlet) and electrical appliance 12.
This is accomplished by inserting male connection 26 of
plug adaptor 24 into a household power outlet and inserting
3D a plug of elec-trical appliance 12 into female connection
28. In order for plug adaptor 24 to function~ primary
switch 14 of electrical appliance 12 must be left in the
"on" position. The use of plug adaptor 24 has the effect
of hooking up secondary switch 18 in series as illustrated
in FIGU~E 2. The default setting of secondary switch 18 is
determined by the positioning of tertiary switch 34. In
the event of a fire the heat and smoke produced by the fire
passes through vent holes 32 in outer housing 30 and is
sensed by heat sensor 20 or alternatively, by smoke sensor
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22. Satellite housing 36 is attached by clip 40 in a
location and at a height which is considered optimal for
detection of a fire. The detection of the fire and -the
operation of switch 10 otherwise works in the same manner.
It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the
modifications may be made to the illustrated embodiments
without departing from the method described in the claims.
